With an ever-increasing number of interactive games being released that allow the player to go online and explore a whole new vast world of entertainment, dedicated servers to support the games are always eagerly anticipated. Online gaming brings the additional benefit of playing someone real, not just a generated character.

The dedicated servers, commonly known as dedicated game servers, collect data from players and distribute it to other players. This process is more efficient than peer-to-peer, but it requires a separate computer to host the server application. This is where the dedicated server comes in. There are, of course, professional servers that read data and transmit enormous amounts of data, feeding the players as fast as they need it. The luxury of such a setup did not come cheap at $200-$700 a month. Eventually prices came down as subscribers increased 1,000 fold.

Game servers can be either listen servers or dedicated server hosting.

- Listen servers typically run in the same process as the game client, allowing a player to host games and participate in them at the same time. Unfortunately the server is usually terminated when the client does, and they usually involve a low number of players.

- Dedicated server hosting runs totally independent of the client, and are quite often run on dedicated hardware in data centres. These provide more bandwidth and processing power and are the preferred choice for most PC-base multiplayer games.

We at CWCS provide dedicated servers that satisfy the demands of modern computing.

Data protection is a standard within any industry which deals with sensitive information, we encourage all of our clients to follow strict data protection practices and take this very seriously.

Our client-base includes customers with single websites to multiple dedicated servers. We host many resellers which resell our services and provide their own ’service’ to their clients. From time to time we are contacted by this end user rather than our customer, it’s difficult to be unhelpful and turn this person away, although it’s important to do for the following reasons:

1. Data protection could be compromised if information is relayed to the end user about the customer’s account. All information should be protected, even if the data isn’t considered sensitive information; we never pass information to people who are not registered as the account holder.

2. Our service may differ to what our resellers offer as a service. Providing support to customers is a service we offer and we have our own standards and routines for this. Our customers could include their own support at an additional cost or with a different SLA (service Level Agreement) in place. It’s Important to not interfere with services our customers provide to their clients.

3. Information about the end user will not be held on our systems, as they are not the registered account holder we have no access to information about them.

Our company policy is to be loyal to all our customers and provide excellent service, helping the end user is breaking this loyalty and could cost us to lose the customer we have. We work to create a strong business relationship with all customers and part of this is trust.

If you have a domain name and are experiencing problems or need some assistance, it’s important to contact the company/persons who setup the website for you originally.

There are many questions to be asked and indeed answered before the decision is made to invest in web hosting. Often people ask if they need to change their domain if they get a new host?. How do they upload their site online? How does one register a domain name or even what is a domain name? There are as many answers as there are questions but there are perhaps a few essentials that should be addressed before finally deciding on a web host.

There are certain distinctions between the various types of web hosting. Shared hosting means sharing a server with other clients and this can mean a slow server if some have heavy traffic. There is also colocated web hosting which is where a server is purchased from a hardware vendor, such as Dell or HP, and the server is then supplied to the host and plugged into its own network. The web host is responsible for the availability and access of the network whereas the owner is responsible for any support or maintenance that may be required should anything unforeseen crop up.

Unmanaged web site hosting is similar to colocation except the server is leased from the host and not purchased by the business or user. There is also a limited amount of support included with such a deal.

Prices of each web site hosting option vary from supplier to supplier and it’s not always a good idea to shop on the cheap. We at CWCS provide problem-free solutions to web hosting in the UK and each package comes with comprehensive support.

Choosing between a Windows and a Linux Dedicated Server – Part 1

If you have chosen a Dedicated Server as your choice of hosting platform, the next stage is to decide what version of operating system to use on your server. The options can be divided into 2 main rivals and then further into different versions of these rivals.

Windows (from Microsoft) is by far the better known operating system amongst most pc uses, however it tends to be in a minority when it comes to web servers for example. It has an well tried and tested user interface with a range of features from the basic web servers to the much more advanced and are designed to cope with almost any requirements you might have for your business. Windows comes with extended support life times (usually 10 years or more) and automatic updating is fairly easy. Saying this however, the need for updating tends to be more serious then on rival systems as due to the wide use, exploits tend to come out often and this can cause damage if the server is not patched or secured. The cost of the operating system and other associated licenses can be considered the main disadvantage over Linux. The main versions on offer for web based servers are Windows 2003 and 2008. We don’t recommend using windows 2000 or before. These are all considered to be NT based operating systems. Versions such as 98, ME, XP and Vista are designed for personal use and are not suitable for operating high end web services.

Within 2003 and 2008 are further sub versions. Web edition tends to be the cheapest option and is all you need to support web sites with databases, scripting and anything else which you might need for an average site. Standard edition allows the addition of many more features such as Hyper-V Virtualization, share point services, MS SQL and many others. Standard edition also allows more RAM to be used on the server as with Windows 2003 web edition, you have a limit of 2GB. Other editions include Enterprise and Data Center edition. These also allow for further extra features and more RAM use.

To be continued….

Sometimes it’s just not possible to set the time aside to maintain a website, but they won’t maintain themselves. The easiest solution would be to opt for managed hosting where various services are offered such as management of operating systems and core applications, assistance with the migration of sites and applications, regular off-site backups as well as consultancy and advice on applications.

At CWCS we provide first class web hosting services to suit the needs of any business or user. Various packages are available to meet the requirements of most companies but should there arise the need for a specific solution, we will always to provide reliable on the spot technical support.

Friendly customer service should come with reputable managed web hosting packages twenty-four hours a day, 7 days a week, and this can be an invaluable asset should anything go wrong. The chances of something going wrong with any given computer system at any given time are quite high. Computer systems are good when they are working but when they go wrong they can be a headache, and that’s why managed website hosting could be the perfect solution to the business or user needing that extra bit of help.

Another crucial element of managed website hosting is data backup; this is why managed web hosting is so dependable. No-one wants to risk losing a whole day’s or even a whole week’s data if anything goes wrong with the system. Most managed hosting incorporates daily backups ensuring nothing is lost.

There are many reasons why you might want to get a dedicated server over shared or Virtual hosting. In this article we shall go through a few of them.

Performance

With a dedicated server you are not sharing server resources with other users who’s domains could literally be doing anything. On many shared servers if one customers script is badly written or is over used it can cause a slow down or loss of service for all users on that server. With a dedicated server you get to isolate your sites from any others you have no control over.

Your requirements may be expanding and outgrowing the shared environment, you may want more control / performance. If you are running a PHP/MySQL driven site and are getting a few hundred users visiting your domains a day then consider getting a dedicated server to really allow you to optimise your server to suit your sites.

Even if on the face of it a shared or virtual server offers a higher spec or more memory, a dedicated server will almost always out perform its shared equivalent.

Control

If you want software that is not supported on our shared environment – you can install / compile any software of your choosing on a dedicated server. This enables you to have much more flexibility and choice in what you install. Many shared servers will limit what you can use, especially if it is resource hungry. With a growing array of software available, your sites might need the step up to a dedicated to fully exploit the latest technologies.

Security

You are able to fully manage the security on a dedicated server including passwords and firewalls, this will help keep your data secure and protect you from brute force attacks and other hacking attempts which are common place on the internet today. With a dedicated server you can know with a high degree of certainty exactly what is on your server, what the risks are and where you have secured yourself.

Many companies started off with a simple website that provided the customer, or whoever the target was, with just a little information, access and support. Gradually over time the site experienced more and more hits. The meagre website that once got two hundred hits per month now gets thousands upon thousands per month and things start to run very slowly. The next step to keep up the momentum and prevent everything from coming apart at the seams is to look at the web hosting.

A dedicated server is one option perhaps worth investigating for anyone serious about
developing their website’s profile. Dedicated servers have their own processor, hard drive, RAM and bandwidth and do exactly what they’re told. The ownership of dedicated servers also means that you can control who accesses the content of your website.

Dedicated server hosting can, however, cost that little bit more than shared web hosting, but the extra money spent on dedicated servers ensures significant benefits over other options. For one, server providers usually allow you to customise your own dedicated server hosting, meaning you select and pay only for the features you want.

In this fast-moving, competitive world of technological advancements that seem to be progressing at an accelerated rate, how are companies expected to keep up the pace at a cost effective price? Here at CWCS we provide a cost-effective solution to the growing choice of dedicated server providers. It’s a choice that will help you reach the rest of the world, not reach deep into your pockets.

Once you’ve decided to go all out on the web hosting front, the first thing you need to do is decide how much to spend on the new system or even how little to spend. The problem with the latter is that spending too little on the cheapest web hosting company can turn out to be a false economy. It can be very tempting to scrimp on the spending to save some money. However, without spending a decent amount on web hosting, the chances of problems arising in the future are high. With lack of spending comes lack of support and this can be a crucial element of web hosting should a spanner appear in the works.

Some problems with opting for cheap website hosting services is that you will probably be sharing the server space with other companies that have probably opted for the same reduced package. This may lead to complications if the other company or companies use mailing lists to send spam, for example. If this is the case then there is a very high possibility that each and every domain hosted by the server could end up being blocked by anti-spam software, resulting in your company also being blocked.

We at CWCS provide affordable website hosting packages that suit all clients’ needs. We also provide reliable support without the need to break the bank. So, before deciding on a cheap web hosting company, think about whether it’s worth saving pounds at the start only to be hit with a large hike in costs later. In today’s business, false economy is not an option.